Advice to get the K1 visa process moving quickly

[mikelowe 0]

Does anyone have any advice to start the process for a K1 moving quickly?

I'm an American born male that's engaged to my Dominican boyfriend I also currently work for the government, and we are planning on applying for a K1 and I know I have to be patient but I still want the process to go relatively fast. Anyone have any advice?

Should I hire a lawyer to do the K1 paperwork or is it simple enough that I can do it myself?

Also I read some rumors on here about certain states having reputations for being fast processing K1s like Vermont and CA... Is this true? If so what states should I apply in? I'm willing to travel if it would make the process go faster.

And I'd like to hear if anyone would be willing to share advice who was able to get the k1 approved before the suggested 6 months mark.. How'd you do it?

I'd appreciate any advice! Thanks!

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Well honestly anything you do the time frame will still be the same no matter what. If you get an attorney or if you do it by yourself the time frame will be the same. Also since you live in DC you will have to send it to Vermont, there is not other place to send it too.

Just save your money and use the guides on here to do it yourself. Because even if you get a attorney they will still ask you for all of the evidence anyway. You are looking at a 6-9 months minimum anyway. Also I am a fed. government worker as well and the wait was still 6 months.

Edited July 5, 2016 by cyberfx1024

[jwcir12016 32]

Don't hire a lawyer it is a waste of money, the paperwork is beyond easy enough to do yourself. You don't get to choose the state where your paperwork gets sent, after you send it to the lockbox it will get sent to whatever office covers your region. The process is the process as you seem to understand it can take 6-9 months. The best way to keep it moving along at a swift speed is to check and recheck and make sure there are no hang ups that would cause you to get a checklist where more information may be required which can hang you up a little along the way. Don't get intimidated by the paperwork, use vj for help if you need any along the way.

[ch3john 308]

you have no control over where the petition is sent for processing. You send the petition to TX then they route it from there.

Lawyers are a waste of money and have a better chance of delaying the process because they will more than likely screw something up that will garner a RFE.

Good luck!

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

Well honestly anything you do the time frame will still be the same no matter what. If you get an attorney or if you do it by yourself the time frame will be the same. Also since you live in DC you will have to send it to Vermont, there is not other place to send it too.

OP, you will NOT send your i-129f packet to Vermont. All i-129f (the petition needed for an eventual K-1) are sent to the Texas Lockbox originally, regardless of where you live.

Your petition will then be forwarded appropriately if need be. Likely to the California Service Center.

As for a lawyer, most people do fine without them as long as there aren't any serious issues with their case. I suggest you read over the guides to give yourself a better idea of the process and how long you may expect it to take.

Edited July 5, 2016 by MorganandMichael

[mikelowe 0]

Thank you all so much for the help!

[soulstriker 274]

avg time for 20167 is about 4-7 months , no lawyer needed , save money , research til you know every single thing about the k1 process

[Pennycat 880]

Nothing you can do to get it moving faster at this point. Step 1 is USCIS. You send your I-129f to a Lockbox which sends it to the appropriate Service Center. While in the recent past there were two offices processing I-129fs, and those offices were processing at different speeds (tenfold different at one point), that is no longer the case. Now, all I-129fs are being routed to California Service Center. Texas and Vermont technically could accept them and that's why they remain on the timelines here, but reality on the ground is 100% go to CSC. Any VJ statistics pointing to TSC or VSC is VJ users confused about what office they're at.

Step 2 is NVC and that's almost a uniform 2 weeks for all. Only difference is how quickly CSC sends to NVC. I haven't been paying enough attention to notice a pattern but I wonder if they only send a shipment once every 10 days or so. So luck of the draw there but we're talking 1.5 weeks.

Step 3 is embassy and your timeline is going to be exclusively related to what's happening at your embassy. Some have a huge workload (Canada and Nigeria for example) and you can wait weeks or months for your appointment and others have next day availability. Your milage will vary here.

Still, there's nowhere along the way you can speed up processing times. Your best bet to get through fast as possible is to apply asap and provide a clean application that doesn't get an RFE (which contrary to how people talk about them are NOT the end of the world. Maybe 2 to 4 weeks to timeline), and getting a head start on embassy checklist before they send it to you. Wait until you have NOA2 to get your head start and get a recent checklist from someone who just went through K1 at your embassy. Not any other visa. K1. Then get NVC number asap and go from there. All this work will maybe buy you 2 or 3 weeks max.

[vocal 41]

you have no control over where the petition is sent for processing. You send the petition to TX then they route it from there.

Lawyers are a waste of money and have a better chance of delaying the process because they will more than likely screw something up that will garner a RFE.

Good luck!

The bold (mine) is such BS.

Good lawyers have many years experience while you (anyone else) has none. They are most likely to *not* screw up anything, and have far superior knowledge than any individual.

Some people prefer to pay a lawyer to handle their case and that is completely ok.

[lkerky 25]

The bold (mine) is such BS.

Good lawyers have many years experience while you (anyone else) has none. They are most likely to *not* screw up anything, and have far superior knowledge than any individual.

Some people prefer to pay a lawyer to handle their case and that is completely ok.

If you have a straight forward case, lawyers are a waste of money. The lawyer isn't going to do the ground work in gathering all the evidence. You are paying them to fill in forms which if you read the instructions are easily done.

It is okay to hire a lawyer if you want to spend the money but hiring a lawyer doesn't make the process any faster.

Check out other peoples timelines- it will give you another prospective of how long they waited.

[Caykay1 71]

All you need is patience and start working ok the application if you want things to move fast. Each passing day you waste thinking about which state this and that, you are delaying your processing time. Also if you can read and understand English, then you don't need a middle man ( lawyer) because they're only going to be asking you the questions and write them for you. Other than that's they hold no magic power to push anything faster. Good luck.

[vocal 41]

If you have a straight forward case, lawyers are a waste of money. The lawyer isn't going to do the ground work in gathering all the evidence. You are paying them to fill in forms which if you read the instructions are easily done.

It is okay to hire a lawyer if you want to spend the money but hiring a lawyer doesn't make the process any faster.

Check out other peoples timelines- it will give you another prospective of how long they waited.

My reply was directed at the "getting a lawyer will make it more likely for you to get an RFE".

That is the main point which is obviously wrong.

And anyway, waste of money to whom? Some people are willing to spend money for their peace of mind and to not worry about filing, gathering knowledge from the internet etc... You can recommend your opinion but don't lie outright please.

[Jasmine&Roni 33]

I hired a lawyer. I hired a lawyer for peace of mind. I wanted someone else to look over everything. I did all the paperwork myself. He put the packet together and did the cover letter for me. Since I did the majority on my own he took money off of what I owed him.

[Delirium 114]

My reply was directed at the "getting a lawyer will make it more likely for you to get an RFE".

That is the main point which is obviously wrong.

And anyway, waste of money to whom? Some people are willing to spend money for their peace of mind and to not worry about filing, gathering knowledge from the internet etc... You can recommend your opinion but don't lie outright please.

I think most people who hire lawyers are ones who may have a difficult case or, as you said, do so for peace of mind. I have read mixed things in terms of lawyers on here. Some say that they're glad to have used a lawyer, others say that they had several problems when doing so (I've read a few stories saying how couples received an RFE and their lawyers never informed them about it which led to their denial). Really, it's up to you in the end. The process if fairly simple and most of us do it on our own (with help from people on this forum of course), and some use lawyers. A lawyer will *NOT* make your case move through the USCIS any faster, so if that's a contributing factor to your decision, I would scratch it right away. I considered a lawyer, but ended up doing the process myself after reading guides and receiving help from people on here and was approved just fine In the end, it's your case and you should do what you're most comfortable with. VJ members will be here to support you regardless! Congratulations and good luck on your journey!

[Cathi 5,833]

Don't hire a lawyer it is a waste of money, the paperwork is beyond easy enough to do yourself. You don't get to choose the state where your paperwork gets sent, after you send it to the lockbox it will get sent to whatever office covers your region. The process is the process as you seem to understand it can take 6-9 months. The best way to keep it moving along at a swift speed is to check and recheck and make sure there are no hang ups that would cause you to get a checklist where more information may be required which can hang you up a little along the way. Don't get intimidated by the paperwork, use vj for help if you need any along the way.

actually getting a lawyer slows the process down. They have to wait for you to collect the needed paperwork and documents, then you are at their mercy after you give it to them. You do not know when they will send the application in, and in most cases I see on VJ involving an attorney there is always something they forget to ask for or they misinform their clients. Lawyers are a waste of time and money if a person has a straightforward case. They are just a middle man and you are literally paying someone to do something you can easily do yourself, especially considering you still have to gather all the documentation and paperwork to hand over to the lawyer,

Don't hire a lawyer it is a waste of money, the paperwork is beyond easy enough to do yourself. You don't get to choose the state where your paperwork gets sent, after you send it to the lockbox it will get sent to whatever office covers your region. The process is the process as you seem to understand it can take 6-9 months. The best way to keep it moving along at a swift speed is to check and recheck and make sure there are no hang ups that would cause you to get a checklist where more information may be required which can hang you up a little along the way. Don't get intimidated by the paperwork, use vj for help if you need any along the way.

no one gets to choose where the application goes, it is dependent on where the petitioner lives.